Too many Saiyans in Tokyo
by Saiyan Huntress
Summary: Ever wondered what would happen when Trunks and Goten would get their hands on a spaceship and land in Tokyo...? Mix that with a few pop concerts, motocross races and saving the Universe and you have my story...
1. Whoops, Blast off

**Too many Saiyans in Tokyo**

_by__ Saiyan Huntress_

**Chapter 1 – Whoops… Blast-off**

That afternoon was quiet in the Western Capital. Most people were at work, most kids at schools or kindergartens and the streets were rather empty. The day was cloudless and sunny and that's why Bulma had decided to spend the afternoon outside, giving the last touch to her little self-built space pod.

„I'd say, not bad at all," she finally stated happily and stretched her back.

Trunks and Goten who had been hanging around in the garden for most of the time trotted closer to examine the pod. It looked just like one of those typical Saiyan space pods, only this one had a huge Capsule Corporation logo on its side.

"Pretty cool," Goten remarked, looking at the pod.

"Yeah," Trunks agreed, "but why would you need a space pod like that?"

"It's just a prototype," his mother said. "I'm not even sure if it works. Okay, kids, I'm gonna go take a shower now." She looked at her oily clothes and frowned. "And these here probably need recycling. You two are **not** gonna touch that space pod, did I make myself clear?"

As soon as the coast was clear, the two Saiyan brats peeked inside the pod. It was full of gadgets, lights and small levers. Trunks was utterly excited.

"Whoa, Goten, check it out! There must be more electronics in there than in grandpa's whole lab!"

Goten peered around. "Er, Trunks, your mother told us not to touch it. Shouldn't we…"

"Don't be such a wimp!" Trunks was already pulling the door of the pod open. "Once my mom's taking a shower, you can expect her to spend hours there. She'll never know."

The two brats hopped inside and closed the door. After spending a few minutes on trying to fit into the small pod, they gasped and admired the small monitors, buttons and levers placed all over the pod's inner surface.

"Did your mom really make this all by herself?" Goten asked, gazing around.

Trunks grinned. "Cool, eh?" He grabbed a handle and stared out of the window. "Attention all units, enemy at twelve o'clock, sending out the special squad!"

Goten stood up on the seat to get a better view out of the window. "This pod here isn't exactly _huge_…" he tried to turn around and slipped, "whoo-ah… and the seat is slippery!"

"Hey, look out…!" Trunks shouted as Goten tried to catch his balance again. The kid slammed his hand against the side of the pod and managed not to fall down face-first.

The little screen, on which Goten's hand had landed, started to blink. "READY READY READY" it announced. Then a calm voice filled the pod. "Attention! Ready for take-off! Direction: beta-x24F-alpha-y7. Destination: unknown. Duration of flight: unknown. 3… 2… 1… blast-off!"

Trunks and Goten glanced at each other. "Uh-oh."

The pod dashed to the sky.

* * *

A few days later in a small forest near Tokyo, a girl was walking down the small path. It was almost evening, the shadows of the trees were long and the birds weren't singing as loudly as they had sung in the afternoon.

The girl's name was Makoto Kino. Her parents had died in an airplane accident when she was young so she lived along in an apartment near the uptown of Tokyo. The neighborhood was noisy and with a very fast speed of life, so sometimes Makoto liked to get out of the city and enjoy the quiet and peaceful life in the forest. There was not a single human being nearby, no exhaust fumes, no crying children… nothing that goes with such a huge city as Tokyo. That's why she liked it in the forest. The quiet whispering of the trees and the wind was so relaxing.

Makoto looked at her watch and frowned. It was getting a bit late. The last train back to Tokyo was leaving in an hour. About time to turn back and go home again.

The girl sighed. Tomorrow would be another school day, and after that another, and another, and another… day after day, nothing new, nothing changing. Okay, so she was Sailor Jupiter, one of the powerful Sailor Soldiers fighting against evil on the planet Earth… but after years of fighting, even the monsters seemed like a routine.

Makoto sighed again and looked at the sky, the red clouds, the setting sun, the approaching little space pod…

…waitaminute…?

The small space pod crashed right in the middle of the footpath, in front of Makoto, turning into a wreck on that same second. The door fell open and the two Saiyan brats dropped out of it.

"Ow!" Goten complained, rubbing his head. "Did your mom forget to build this thing some brakes or what?"

Trunks was holding his head between his hands, trying to get the picture straight. "It's a space pod; it's not supposed to have brakes… those things just land and leave a crater behind. Apparently this space pod of ours wasn't hard enough to make it through the landing."

Goten groaned and looked up. Then he noticed Makoto, who was quietly staring at them and the crushed space pod. Goten blinked and stared back at her, her brown ponytail and blue jeans.

"Wow… he commented then. "Check it out, Trunks… it's a human!"

Makoto took a small step back as her emerald green eyes turned a bit bigger.

Trunks looked up too, grinned slightly and waved slowly. "Erm, greetings stranger. Don't be afraid, we are friends. Um… we come in peace."

Goten rolled his eyes. "You should really watch a little less TV…"

Makoto smiled and crouched down. "Now I'm supposed to squeal and run away as fast as I can, right?"

Trunks gave her a wide grin. "Yeah. But um, please don't… we've traveled for days and we're starving. Could you find something for us to eat?"

The girl seemed thoughtful for a second, then she smiled again. "Well… who are you two anyway?"

"My name's Goten," Goten announced.

"And I'm Trunks. We got here with that space pod over there," the boy pointed over his shoulder to the pile of metal. "Thanks to my mom's gorgeous space pod making skills, it looks like now we're stuck here on your planet. Hungry, lonely, cold and with no shelter. Um," he looked at Makoto, "hint hint?"

Makoto laughed. "All right then. You can come to my place. It's not exactly big, but you could sleep on the couch." She stood up. "My name's Makoto Kino, but my friends call me Mako."

After Trunks had put the ex-spacepod into the magical capsule and stuck it into his pocket, the three left for the train station. Tokyo was nearly twenty miles away but the fast train didn't need much time to cover that route.

"Say Mako, what's this city called?" Goten asked when the train raced through the suburbs.

"Tokyo," the girl replied. "The biggest city on this planet, when you count all the suburbs in. Oh, that's our stop. Come on now… I'm not interested in searching for you two when you get lost in the subway."

About ten minutes later Makoto unlocked the door of her apartment and pushed it open. "Okay then, welcome to my humble flat. Make yourself at home."

"If you say so… when's dinnertime?" Trunks asked fast. Goten slapped him: "Behave yourself, dangit!"

Makoto chortled. "I left a pot of rice on the stove before I left. It should be done for now. Come on to the kitchen."

The two boys stared at the pot as Makoto lifted it off the stove. The pot was two feet high, about the size of a gas tank.

"That sure looks delicious," Trunks slowly said, looking at the pile of rice with teriyaki sauce on his plate, "but…"

"But there's so little of it!" Goten completed his sentence.

"There's more in the pot. And it's more than enough for the two of you," Makoto replied and started to eat.

In a few minutes the Saiyan kids had emptied their plates, the pot and were standing in the middle of the kitchen, gaping around. "That's it? That didn't even get to the bottom of my stomach… Mako, do you have anything else to eat?"

Mako looked at the empty pot and blinked slowly. "Check the fridge…"

After a light meal which consisted of everything in Mako's fridge, the two kids trotted in the living room and examined it with great curiosity. Makoto washed the dishes and followed them.

"Say Mako… are those your parents?" Goten asked, pointing at an old photo on the shelf.

Makoto nodded. "They died in a plane accident. I've been living alone ever since." She stepped to the shelf and took the photo to look at it. The picture had a bad quality, the faces of the two people on it were practically unrecognizable. The girl gave it a slight look, then frowned and put it back on the shelf. "I hardly remember them. I know that my life was happy when they still lived… but it was a long time ago and I'm used to my current life."

"I would never forget my mom and dad if they'd die," Trunks said quietly.

"No shock," Goten remarked. "Who could forget people like **these** two?"

Makoto grinned slightly. "I wouldn't want to be in your mom's shoes. Do you always eat so much?"

"Not always… but mostly," Trunks replied with a grin. Goten nodded in agreement. Makoto shook her head. "By Jove… they must be glad to get rid of you."

"My mom – without a doubt," Trunks agreed, "but Goten's mom is definitely in hysteria already."

* * *

On the same time, in the Capsule Corporation's building, Bulma was trying hard to calm Chichi down. She wasn't exactly successful…

"Oh, my poor little Goten!" Chichi wailed for the seven hundredth time or so. "Where could you be? Are you all right? Oh, I hope you're doing fine… what would I do without you, my poor son?" She wandered around the room. "Oh, if I only knew that they're safe…"

"I'm sure they're fine," Bulma assured her. "They're both half-Saiyans, they know how to fight for their food and safety."

"But they've been gone for three days now!" Chichi complained. Suddenly she hopped up and demanded: "Bulma, I want you to build a new spaceship. I'm gonna go look for them!"

Bulma gasped. "Are you crazy? There are millions of planets in the Universe and we don't even know in which direction they went!"

"I don't care!" Goten's mother replied. "I'll search the whole Universe through when I have to!"

"Now try to calm down and be reasonable," the other woman begged. "Let us wait until our husbands come back from their training. Goku can do this instant teleporting thingy, right? He could easily find Trunks's and Goten's auras and bring them back here with no trouble."

"I'd love to know when those two are planning to get back," Chichi grunted. "They've been training somewhere out there for a week now. Who knows when they want to return? I swear, I'm gonna buy Goku a cell phone first thing in the morning!"

* * *

"And your fathers?" Makoto asked. "Aren't they concerned?"

Trunks burst into laughter. "They? Concerned?? That would be something! The word "concern" doesn't exist in their brains! Besides, they're training in the mountains as we speak… they don't even know that we're missing. They can't know that… there's no way."

* * *

"I'm starting to miss Chichi's roast beef," Goku remarked with a frown, turning a huge piece of meat on the bonfire. The two Saiyan warriors were sitting on a small plain between vast rocks that were shattered and partly burned. Their clothes were dirty and torn and they both looked exhausted. A week of hard training had left its mark.

"Human civilization has made you weak," Vegeta grunted, leaned forward and grabbed the meat.

"Hey, wait a…" Before Goku could finish his sentence, the roast beef had already gone.

"Not fair," the Saiyan warrior pouted.

"Life isn't fair," Vegeta replied.

Goku snarled and turned to look at the sky. Suddenly he frowned. "Say, Vegeta… can you feel our sons' auras?"

The prince gave him a surprised look, then he concentrated a bit. And then he raised his eyebrows. "You're right. They're nowhere around this planet. That's weird…"

"They're either dead or too far for us to feel their auras," Goku replied. "I don't think that they can be dead… but…"

Vegeta suddenly looked up. "Bulma's spaceship. She was building a space pod. I bet she got it done and as soon as she turned her back, Trunks and that little brat of yours obviously climbed in there and pushed the wrong button. Nothing surprising."

Goku blinked slowly. "Yeah. I guess you're right. And now they're sitting somewhere so far that we can't even feel their auras. Wow… they must be in another galaxy. I hope they're okay…"

"They're fine," Vegeta muttered, gnawing on the piece of meat.

* * *

"It's getting late," Makoto remarked, looking at her watch. "I have school tomorrow; I think I'll go and see if I have any extra pillows in the closet. I hope you guys won't mind sleeping on the couch."

"No biggie," Trunks shouted from the balcony. "Whoo, this house is tall! And you can see so far from here!"

"Don't fall down now, I'm really not interested in scratching you off the pavement," Mako said. "The bathroom is over there. Move it, will ya?"


	2. Class, meet two little Saiyans

**Chapter 2 – Class, meet two little Saiyans…**

The next morning, a little before seven o'clock, Makoto kicked the two kids out of the bed.

"Rise and shine, kiddos!" she announced merrily. "It's almost seven o'clock and the breakfast is ready."

The boys twisted their eyelids open to see Mako's blue school uniform skirt disappear into the kitchen. Goten groaned and hid his head under the pillow. Trunks yawned widely and turned the other side.

"What? Not hungry?" Makoto whooshed back to the living room and waved the frying pan under the kids' noses. "D'you want me to eat all this chicken by myself?"

"You remind me of my mom," Trunks complained over his shoulder. "Give us some time to wake up, will you?" Goten's sleepy eye peeked out from under the pillow.

"Okay, I'll give you… three seconds. Three, two, one, up and away!" Makoto grabbed Trunks's blanket. The kid grunted and curled up under the pillow.

"You're _worse_ than my mom," he announced grimly.

"Where does she get that energy?" Goten asked Trunks as they were slowly gnawing on their breakfast. "I feel like a frog…"

"I'm gonna have to go to school in ten minutes," Makoto said, brushing her hair by the opened window. "You'll stay here and cause no trouble, agreed?"

"Hey, now hold on a sec… who said that we want to stay here?" Trunks asked quickly. "We're on another planet and we are **not** gonna waste it on sitting in some apartment!" Goten coughed out a chicken bone and nodded frantically.

Makoto frowned slightly. "I can't let you go to the city of Tokyo on your own."

"Then we'll come to the school with you," Trunks declared.

"But…" Mako's eyes turned big. "I can't take you guys to school with me! You're aliens from another planet… _and_ you'd be bored there."

"What do you suggest?" Trunks asked back.

The girl sighed. "All right then… I hope the teacher is agreed. But as soon as you start causing any trouble…" She didn't finish her sentence but her green eyes spoke for her.

The bus stop wasn't far away and after twenty minutes' ride the three stepped out in front of the big white schoolhouse.

"And no funny stuff," Makoto warned the boys as they went to the class. Luckily the teacher agreed to let the boys stay in the class after the girl had told him a story of her aunt going to China for two weeks and leaving her sons with Makoto. ("I just couldn't leave them alone in my apartment, you know, they're little kids, what if they play with matches and burn the whole house down? They won't cause any trouble, I promise.") The boys were sent to the back of the class to sit on the windowsill. Makoto went to her seat, popped down with a sigh and greeted her friends.

"Babysitting today?" Usagi asked her with a wide grin.

Makoto nodded. "Today, tomorrow and a few more days. Lucky me." She frowned at the kids. "But I didn't have much choice."

"You have an aunt?" Minako asked. "I thought you had no siblings alive."

Makoto seemed surprised. "I've said that?" She blinked quickly but then got her nerves back. "Well, I _do_ have an aunt, for your information… although she isn't exactly my aunt, just a relative from my father's side. We don't communicate often but since she currently had nobody who could keep an eye on her children, she asked me to do the job."

Seiya, who had been staring at the ceiling and humming some snatch of melody, suddenly looked at Makoto. "And what if those kids get their hands on a matchbox during the lesson and burn the schoolhouse down?"

Yaten turned around on his seat and gave Seiya a grin. "And you would surely feel so sorry for that?"

Seiya grinned back. "Ooh yeah. You know how I love to go to school."

"They'll do fine," Makoto claimed. "I hope…"

The bell rang and the lesson started. Trunks and Goten were really quiet during the whole lesson and even the next recess. Most of the time they were just sitting and listening. But as hours went by, they became restless. And as soon as the fourth lesson ended, they both announced:

"Mako, we're hungry!"

Makoto blinked slowly and turned to look at them. She remembered the last evening's meal pretty well. "Um, I don't know if my lunchbox has enough food for the three of us…"

"Apparently not," Trunks agreed, "it seems quite tiny."

"But I'm hungry…" Goten whined.

Makoto sighed and searched her pockets. "Let's see… okay, you two, I have a 200-yen-bill here. Go buy yourselves a couple of hamburgers."

Trunks grabbed the bill. "Oh boy – 200? We can get a truckload of hamburgers for that! Thanks!"

"Actually you can get about four hamburgers for that," Seiya remarked. "Ever heard of currency rate?"

"You actually know such words?" Yaten teased. Seiya threw a pencil case at him.

"Only four?" Trunks pouted. "Oh well, better than nothing. Where's that hamburger booth?"

"Right around the corner, five minutes' walk," Usagi and Seiya explained at the same time.

"Hey, hold on, I can't let you on Tokyo's streets all alone!" Mako shouted as the kids were almost out of the door.

"But the lesson's about to start… who do you think should come with us?" Goten asked.

Usagi pushed the window open. "Luna, come on over here."

A small black cat jumped on the windowsill. "Meow?"

"That was the fakest meow I've ever heard," Minako whispered to Ami.

"Luna, would you please go with the two boys and keep an eye on them?" Usagi asked the cat who nodded and went to the two boys.

Outside in front of the schoolhouse Luna turned left and went down the street. Trunks and Goten followed her until they came to the hamburger booth.

"Four hamburgers," Trunks ordered and put the money on the counter.

"Wow, these are good," Goten muttered with his mouth full as they had gotten the hamburgers. "Fast food rocks!"

Luna poked Trunks's leg. "Meow?"

Trunks glared at her. "Mine. Not yours."

"Meow," Luna complained. "Mee-ow."

"No," Trunks declared.

"Meow?" Luna asked Goten, who shook his head.

The cat grunted. "Okay, let me put it that way… gimme a piece of that goddamn hamburger before my claws end up in some place where they'll cause a lot of _pain_. I haven't eaten anything since early in the morning and I'm the one that got you two snotnoses down here!"

Trunks, Goten and the hamburger salesman stared at her.

"What?" Luna hissed to the salesman who jumped back. "Nothing… nothing, just doing my job here."

"Then do it and don't sit here staring at me. Never seen a talking cat before???" Luna gave the two Saiyan kids a short look. The kids quickly gave him the wieners from their burgers.

"That's better," Luna nodded, munching on the wieners.

"Say Luna," Trunks asked the cat after finishing up with his burger," maybe you could show us around in the city?"

Luna nodded slowly. "Yeah, why not. As long as you don't get lost somewhere. Where do you want to go?"

"Somewhere cool," the two replied quickly.

Luna rolled her eyes and sighed. "The zoo…? Or maybe the Tokyo Tower?"

So the rest of the afternoon was spent on hanging around the Tokyo Tower, the parks of Tokyo and the airport, because the kids wanted to see what the airplanes looked like on that planet. When the clock stroke four, Luna said that the lessons were probably over and that they would find Makoto in the Hikawa temple where Rei lived.

"Is it far?" Trunks asked with a grimace. They had walked a lot during the afternoon.

"Not very," Luna replied laconically.

About half an hour later they came to a hill which had a very long staircase on its side.

"The Cherry Hill," Luna explained. "That's where the Hikawa temple is."

Suddenly they heard a loud explosion from the top of the hill. Luna blinked with surprise. Trunks and Goten gave each other a fast look, then they ran up the stairs. When they reached the top and came to the yard of the temple, they stopped and gasped.

There was a fight going on in front of the temple. The Inner Scouts were there, obviously not doing very well. Sailor Venus had been hit against the wall and was now sitting in front of it, rubbing her head. Sailor Mercury's leg had been grazed and was bleeding a little. The other Scouts were still standing, ready to fight till the end. But they were all exhausted. The enemy was strong.

Trunks and Goten looked at the man the Scouts were fighting with. He was standing in the middle of the yard, with an ugly grin on his face. He had long spiky hair, a brownish armor and very cold black eyes.

"Is that all you've got?" he asked with a smirk. "Not exactly much…"

Sailor Jupiter crossed her arms. "You haven't seen the best of us yet! We're the Sailor Scouts and we always fight till the very end, no matter what it takes. Supreme Thunder!"

The man raised his arm and the thunderbolt hit his glove. It didn't even leave a scratch.

"Now it's my turn… without any fancy words, take that!" The man formed a small energy orb between his palms and threw it at Jupiter. The girl was hit against a tree and collapsed with a quiet moan.

"Makoto!" The two Saiyan kids ran to her. "Are you okay?"

"You… recognized me?" Jupiter asked with surprise, trying to raise her head.

Trunks and Goten were just as surprised. "Of course… what's here not to recognize? You're wearing a green skirt and a tiara on your forehead, is that supposed to be a disguise or something?"

"Never though of that…" Makoto gave a sigh and leaned her head on the ground. "Let me take a little rest…" She was breathing hard.

"What?" the man asked, stepping closer. "Tired already? I'm only beginning to fight." Jupiter gave him a furious look and tried to get up but didn't succeed.

"Don't move… we'll take care of that," Trunks remarked Makoto as his eyes turned very angry. "You there, why don't you pick someone your own size?"

"Like you?" The man laughed.

Trunks nodded and a golden aura appeared around him. "Like me." He turned into a Super Saiyan.

Goten jumped up and turned into a Super Saiyan as well. "Hey, you won't get all the fun!"

"**What**?" The man stepped back. "What the _hell_??"


	3. Guess who's back

**Chapter 3 – Guess who's back**

"Kakarot, can you feel it?" Vegeta looked up. "Trunks's aura!"

"Yeah… and Goten's there too!" Goku nodded with surprise. "They're both furious. And they've turned into Super Saiyans. Something must be wrong… they're having a fight."

"They should be able to handle this by themselves," Vegeta muttered with slight suspicion.

"Maybe, but now we have a chance to find them… come on!"

* * *

Trunks took a fighting pose. "I don't know who you are and where you come from but you hurt a friend of mine and for that you'll _pay_!"

Goten poked him. "Say Trunks, mind if I…? It's been ages since I last had a good fight."

"Well, you won't get all the fun… take that!" Trunks jumped forward and punched the man, who was thrown back several feet. "That's for Makoto!"

Goten dashed forward and kicked the man too. "That was for Makoto's friends!"

Trunks attacked again. "Here's for Makoto again!"

Goten was just about to start complaining about Trunks not letting him fight at all when a voice called: "Hold your horses, you brats, I need a few words with that guy."

The man was crouching on the ground, holding his stomach and trying to get up. He looked towards the voice and as soon as he saw the owner of the voice he gasped and kneeled again.

"Prince Vegeta…" he whispered.

Prince Vegeta gave him a thoughtful look as Goku poked him. "Wow, check it out Vegeta, it looks like we've missed all the fun… oh, hey Raditz!"

The man stared at him. "Kakarot? You're alive?"

Goku nodded with a wide smile. "Yup. And you? I see that you're still dead." Raditz had a golden halo above his head. "How did you get out of the hell?"

"Just came… those ogres may be good bureaucrats but they're not exactly great guards," Raditz explained and stood up. "But this planet here doesn't seem to be the one I died on."

Goku nodded. "I bet you turned left from the second road sign. That one's incorrect, they wanted to replace it back on the days when I was there the second time… looks like they're still replacing." He grinned.

"Dang…" Raditz muttered.

"What did you want from this planet anyway?" Vegeta asked.

"What do you think? To enslave the inhabitants and stay here for the rest of eternity. But those girls there," he pointed to the defeated Sailor Scouts, "didn't seem to like the idea. So I had to show them my point of view the hard way. And then those annoying brats showed up."

"Hey, if you wouldn't have hurt Makoto, we wouldn't have had any problems with you!" Trunks shouted.

"Shut up, Trunks," his father growled. "I'll get to you."

"You know those kids?" Raditz asked with surprise.

"You bet." Goku grinned at his big brother. "Let's get you introduced, shall we? The one to the right is my younger son and the other one belongs to Vegeta."

Raditz stared at him, then he glanced at the Saiyan prince. "What the… you really have a son, Vegeta?"

Vegeta gave him a short look. "Yeah. So?"

"What do you mean, "so"?" Raditz seemed pretty angry. "Thanks to you, it looks like I now owe Nappa a bar of chocolate!"

Vegeta blinked. "You made a bet with Nappa that I will never get married?!"

"And I was an idiot!" Raditz grunted. "Have you any idea what a bar of chocolate costs in the Hell these days?"

Vegeta's eyebrow twitched. He raised his arm and blasted Raditz into nothingness. "Then go get him that bar of chocolate and get off my sight for the rest of eternity!"

The yard was very quiet.

"That was fun," Goku commented.

"I'm not done yet," the prince grunted. Trunks and Goten blinked and stared. On the next second they were hiding behind Goku's back.

"Hey Dad, now you say something!" Goten begged. "I'm your son; _you're_ the only one who has the right to beat the daylight out of me!"

"Say a word for me too while you're at it," Trunks added. "I have human rights too, or what?"

"First of all, you're only half human," Vegeta remarked him.

Sailor Mars gave Jupiter a short look. "Okay Makoto, I think you owe us an explanation. Where did you meet those two brats?"

Jupiter sighed and told them the story, everything she knew about it.

"A small round spaceship, eh?" Vegeta asked, looking at the boys.

"He did it!" both kids announced at the same time, looking at each other.

"Trunks wanted us to get into the pod!" Goten declared.

"But Goten pressed the button!" Trunks argued.

"Will you **shut up** already…? Trunks, give me that pod." Vegeta growled.

Trunks gave him the capsule, Vegeta clicked it and the crushed pod appeared.

"Holy cow!" Sailor Venus admired. "It's a wreck! Scrap metal! How did they survive the landing??!!"

Sailor Mercury examined the pod. "Wow, that really is some technology! Even the most secret US army achievements have never gotten so far!"

"How do you know about those US army secret achievements?" Venus asked her.

"You'd be surprised what one can do with a palm computer," Mercury replied. "How long did it take to build such a spaceship?"

"Mom made it in her lab in a few weeks," Trunks said.

"So I see," Vegeta agreed. "That thing over there is a shame for all space pods. Look at it." He punched the pod which deformed instantly. "Soft like a tin can. Okay, Kakarot, I think it's time for us to go back home."

Goku nodded. "Yeah." He concentrated a bit. And then his eyes turned big. "Erm, Vegeta, we have a problem."

"A problem?" Vegeta glared at him. "I don't wanna hear about any problems as long as I'm still on this planet!"

"Well, you see, to perform an instant translocation, I need someone's aura in the destination, as you know," Goku explained. "But there's nothing. Nobody's aura seems to be around."

"Does this mean that we'll stay here… forever?" Trunks asked.

Vegeta grunted. "You wish. In a few weeks Bulma will most definitely show up with a new spaceship and then I won't envy you two."

Makoto blinked and stared. "Two… weeks?"

"Dad, we can't stay at Makoto's place for two weeks," Trunks said. "We wouldn't fit there and she couldn't afford to feed us all."

The five Sailor Scouts put their heads together. "We can't let them out somewhere in Siberia, or what?"

"No way, they'd blow half of the planet up!"

"We need a place where they'd be no trouble, where the neighbors wouldn't be too curious and where they could get their stomachs full."

"Try to find such a place in Tokyo…"

"I have an idea… but it's a very weak one and won't probably work out. It may be worth trying though… let me go and make a phone call." Sailor Mars went to the temple. The others gave her a surprised look and then sneaked behind the door to listen.

Mars dialed the number and waited for a few seconds. Then she asked:

"Haruka?"


	4. Moving in

**Chapter 4 – Moving in**

"No, no and I mean NO!" Haruka seemed very annoyed. She was standing in the middle of Hikawa temple's yard with her chin pushed up and her navy blue eyes flashing darkly. Haruka and Michiru had currently been in a nearby mall when Rei called so they had come over in five minutes.

"Come on Haruka… you're rich, you could afford to keep them for a week or two," Minako said. "And you have a big house in a quiet neighborhood…"

"There's a retired _yakuza_ godfather living across the street," Michiru remarked.

"But still quiet!" Minako claimed obstinately. "And they're very strong fighters; we just can't let them out on Tokyo… Give me one good reason why you couldn't do it?"

Haruka growled and turned her back to them. Michiru smiled slightly.

"She's in a bad mood today, she doesn't like men in general and she especially doesn't like men who have a chance to be strong enough to blow up her house. Or car. Or bike. And," she added with a grin, "she doesn't like to give reasons to what she does."

Haruka looked over her shoulder. "What she said… but you say that they're strong fighters, aye?" She turned around again and looked at the two brats and their fathers. "Who are you exactly?"

"We're, um, aliens," Trunks explained. "Strong scary aliens. Boo."

Vegeta growled. "Too much late-night TV, don't mind him… we're Saiyans, if you must know."

Haruka's eyebrows raised. "Saiyans? I thought you were destroyed long before I was born."

The Inner Scouts looked at her with surprise. "You know them?" Haruka ignored them. Vegeta smirked.

"Some of us survived."

"Two of us," Goku added.

Haruka seemed thoughtful. "Just out of curiosity, what happened to Freeza?" she suddenly asked. The Inner Scouts stared at her again. Vegeta grinned widely.

"Dead."

"I thought so," the girl nodded. "And you say that you have nowhere to go?"

"They say that," Vegeta corrected, gesturing to the Inner Scouts. "We could just go training to the mountains and stay there until we find a chance to get back home."

"When it's true what they say and they really are the Saiyans then they'll probably destroy most of the Himalayas before they find a chance to go home," Michiru remarked.

Haruka nodded slowly. "True." She looked at the Saiyans. "Are you guys bright enough to remember and obey one simple little rule?"

Vegeta, Trunks and Goten gave Goku a short look. "Let's say... yeah."

Haruka grinned. "The TV remote is my personal property. Touch it without permission and suffer the consequences."

* * *

Haruka's yellow convertible stopped in front of a timber detached house. The neighborhood really was quiet, only some birds were singing in the trees. Goten and Trunks climbed out of the car, complaining about the ride being too short.

"I just _looove_ convertibles," Goten declared. "I'll buy myself one as soon as I'm old enough!" He had spent most of the ride sticking his head out from behind the windscreen and letting the wind blow right into his face. Michiru had remarked that the kid had looked like one of those dogs who always ride in a car with their head stuck out of the window.

"Maybe I should buy one as soon as we get home," Goku considered. He had been sitting on the other side of the backseat, doing exactly the same thing.

Vegeta and Trunks sighed.

Haruka tossed Michiru the keys. "There… I'll drive the car into the garage. Give them that big room to the west of the house. That would be the best one for them."

"I thought she didn't like us," Trunks said as they entered the house.

Michiru smiled and nodded. "That's her point. The rooms in the eastern wing always get the morning sun. When you sleep in the western wing, you won't have to wake up early because the sun won't shine right into your eyes. Therefore, you won't get into her sight that often."

"Is she always like that?" Vegeta asked. The girl nodded.

The prince of the Saiyans grinned. "I like her attitude."

Michiru showed the Saiyans the room, got them some mattresses and blankets and then looked at her watch. "I'd love to stay and chat but I need to go to work. Try not to bug Haruka too much, she may not be as strong as you guys but you **don't** want to meet her angry side, trust me."

"Are you two living here alone?" Goten asked Haruka who was flipping through some magazines in the living room.

The girl shook her head. "There's Hotaru, she actually lives with her father but she likes to spend most of her days here. She'll get here by the dark, I assume. Or later. And then there's Setsuna but she doesn't come here very often."

"Can we look around the house?" Trunks asked. "It's so big and interesting…"

Haruka seemed doubtful; then she nodded. "As long as you don't break anything…"

The two brats were gone this instance. They galloped into the hallway and looked around. Then they started to peek into the rooms.

Most of them were big, light and unused since the house was obviously too big for its inhabitants. They managed to find Michiru's room though which was really pretty, quiet and elegant, with easels standing by the walls and a violin case in the corner. The walls were covered with paintings. The soft scent of oil paint was in the air.

"She's a very talented artist," Trunks whispered.

"Maybe she's just bored and doesn't know what else to do with her time," Goten presumed. "Should we go in? I don't think she'd mind…"

"Maybe not, but I don't want to go inside. This room is so… out of this world." The kids quietly closed the door.

The next room was a complete opposite to Michiru's. It was quite a mess, with random clothes on the floor, several books and car magazines on the bed, the walls were covered with car and motorbike posters and there was a shelf on the other side of the room with quite a number of golden trophies on it.

"Wow!" The kids were really impressed. "That must be Haruka's room… it looks like she loves cars and motorbikes!" Trunks admired.

Goten sneaked into the room. "Check out the trophies…" He examined one trophy. "First place in motocross somewhere in… can't read it out… but she has achieved many first places! Is that cool or what?"

Trunks had discovered another door in the other side of the room. He pushed the door open. "Not only that… come check _this_ out."

The other room was smaller and it didn't have any furniture at all, except for a huge piano in the middle of the room. Goten tiptoed closer and pushed one of the piano keys. It gave a clear and loud note which echoed in the empty room. "Let's get out of here!" Trunks hissed and the kids hurried out.

A few doors later they opened a small door almost in the end of the hallway. They peeked in and gasped loudly.

The room was dim, the windows were covered with thick curtains and the furniture was hard to see. Dark shadows were crawling on the walls and when the two boys were really silent, they could hear quiet whispering from the corners of the room. Or at least they thought that they were hearing the whispering.

"Hotaru's room." Haruka's voice suddenly said behind them. "Enter at your own risk. Michiru and I prefer to stay away. That room isn't exactly dangerous… it can just drive you insane when you're here for too long."

"Who is this Hotaru?" Trunks asked, turning around.

"She's the Sailor Soldier of death, and emptiness, and fate, everything like that. Well, mainly death. Everything that has got to do with things human mind isn't able to deal with. She's not evil, if you're afraid of that," Haruka added. "She has a very good heart. Death isn't evil. It just is. Life is easier once you've realized that."

The girl looked at the room. "I don't like this room when Hotaru isn't in the house. When the mistress of those shadows isn't here, they go lurking on their own. That's why I keep this room closed." She shut the door. "Are you two hungry?"

Five minutes later all four Saiyans were in the kitchen, watching Haruka who was sitting on the cupboard and making pancakes.

"I don't like cooking," she remarked, tossing the half-baked pancake into the air, "but Michiru spends most of the day at work or at some art exhibition, so for me it's usually either pancakes or Tamasaki's Pizza Delivery." She shrugged. "And since I don't get along with the pizza delivery guy very well thanks to a last week's incident, then…"

"Where does Michiru work?" Goku asked with big interest. "She seems very young, isn't she supposed to go to school?"

Haruka shrugged again. "She's 18 and she works as a teacher in an art school if you must know." She tossed the pancake on the plate and took a small jar from the cupboard. "Why should she go to school when she can go to work instead?" Haruka opened he jar and poured some white powder on the pancake.

"And you?" Vegeta asked. "You don't seem much older."

Haruka grinned at him. "I'm a month older than her and damn rich, thanks to my motocross career. Here's the first pancake, divide it or play rock-paper-scissors for it if you want." She threw the plate on the table. The Saiyans looked at it suspiciously.

"What's that white powder you poured on it?" Trunks asked.

"Potassium cyanide… what do you think? It's pulverized Senzu beans. I keep a jar in the cupboard, just in case. It would take a ton of regular pancakes to feed you Saiyans. I'm not interested in sitting by the stove for three days or so."

Goku instantly grabbed the pancake and swallowed it. "Yum, that hit the spot… where do you get those Senzu beans?"

"I have my connections," Haruka replied laconically.

* * *

Karin-sama was watching the whole scene from one of his magical water pots. "Well, they all seem alive and healthy."

"Good for them." Sailor Pluto was standing in the middle of the room. She had work to do, a lot of work… keeping an eye on the whole Space and Time isn't exactly easy. But sometimes it was nice to visit old friends. Karin-sama was one of Pluto's oldest friends, about as old as the planet itself.

"I think someone should go and tell their family and friends that they're all right so that they wouldn't worry too much," Karin-sama said.

"Don't look at me. I'm busy enough," Pluto frowned. "Besides, you had this guy living here, what was his name, Yajirobe…?"

"He went shopping," Karin-sama replied. "I have nobody else to send. And that Space and Time won't collapse when you're not looking at it for an hour. I'll give you the guide and transport. What do you say?"

Pluto sighed. "But only this time."

A little later a small yellow cloud was flying very rapidly over the fields and rivers. Sailor Pluto sat on the cloud with a very annoyed look on her face.

"Guide and transport…you wouldn't even know where your front side is if you wouldn't have a tail, eh?" she asked the cloud. "I hope it won't take too long…"

Gohan was sitting on the Capsule Corporation building's balcony. He had gone there as soon as he heard about his little brother and Trunks. Together with Bulma they had managed to calm Chichi down and give her a lot of sleeping pills.

Bulma entered the balcony. "How's mom?" the boy asked her.

"Still asleep," the woman replied. "But in case those four intergalactic tourists won't get back soon… god knows what she might do."

"Bulma and Gohan, I presume." The small yellow cloud stopped right behind the ledge of the balcony. Sailor Pluto leaped off it and looked at the two. "I have a message to deliver."


	5. A warning

**Chapter 5 – A warning**

"I think that we're already misusing the hospitality," Trunks mumbled with his mouth full of pancakes.

"I think I'll misuse a bit more…" Goten grabbed another cake and didn't finish the sentence. "These are really good!"

Haruka smiled. "I'm not a charity organization but sometimes… well, would you look at that."

Curls of lilac mist appeared in front of the door and a woman with long dark green hair walked out of it. "Hello again, Uranus."

Haruka nodded at her. "Nice to see you again. It's been a while…"

Pluto nodded too. "Listen up now, you Saiyans; I have a few messages from Bulma and Chichi. And I'm in quite a hurry, so listen up good."

Some messages later, Goku and Goten were staring at Pluto as Vegeta and Trunks were trying hard to hold back bursts of laughter.

"**Warm underwear**???" Goten gasped and blinked. "It's **_July_**!" Haruka muttered something about rather being an orphan than having a mother like that.

"As for you two," Pluto looked at Vegeta and Trunks, "Bulma told you not to blow anything very expensive up because Capsule Corporation is having a bad month."

"Then where are we supposed to train?" Vegeta asked with a frown.

Pluto shrugged. "I'll go now… Uranus, you know how to contact me when it's necessary." Haruka nodded. Pluto waved with her long scepter, the Garnet Orb started to glow and the woman disappeared in lilac mist again.

When the clock stroke six, Michiru unlocked the door and entered the house. She came into the living room and raised her eyebrows.

"Would you look at that… you guys seem to be living in just fine."

Goten, Goku and Trunks were sitting on the couch, looking TV. Vegeta was sitting on the windowsill, reading a magazine and Haruka was sitting on the floor with some oily car part, cleaning and fixing it.

Trunks looked up and grinned widely. "Heeey, welcome home. Care to join us?"

Michiru looked at the TV screen and raised her eyebrows. "_Pokémon_?"

"Pokémon is good," Goten announced. "I like Pokémon. Okay, so the second season of Digimon was better but still."

Michiru looked at Haruka. "Is there anything edible in the kitchen or do I have to go cooking?"

Haruka pointed to the Saiyans. "Thank them. They left you a pancake."

"No kidding…" The girl left for the kitchen.

Vegeta looked out of the window. "This garden seems small. Is there any place where I can go training tomorrow without blowing most of the windows in?"

"That garden is actually huge," Haruka replied, "but you can't see the most of it from here. What time do you usually go training?"

The prince shrugged. "5, sometimes 6 AM. It depends…"

"Then don't expect me to get up to make you breakfast," Haruka announced. "We don't keep the fridge locked and you know where the kitchen is."

Michiru came back to the living room. "Isn't Hotaru home yet?"

"She'll come in a while," Haruka replied.

"I hope she won't come too late." Michiru frowned. "The weather forecast predicted rain for tonight."

About an hour went by. A cold wind picked up outside and grey clouds covered the sky. However, it was warm inside the house and the two kids decided to play Monopoly. Two rounds and several bankruptcies later Goten decided that business wasn't for him.

Trunks grinned. "It just takes some practice. Mom plays that game with me all the time."

Vegeta looked up. "She wants you to become the next president of Capsule Corporation and therefore she needs you to know all those little tricks in the world of business."

Trunks grunted. "I know… **but** she still plays with me!"

The front door opened and a sudden breeze came in. Then the door slammed shut with a loud bang. The room suddenly felt colder.

"It's either Hotaru or I forgot to lock the door correctly," Michiru remarked.

"It was locked." A pale, slim girl with huge melancholy eyes and black hair was standing in the doorway. "I see that we have customers. Hello to you all." She bowed slightly. The Saiyans stared at her with surprise and greeted back with hesitation. The girl really was out of this world…quiet, mysterious… and dangerous.

"It's raining cats and dogs outside, as I see," Haruka said. "Go change your clothes before you get cold. You know how bad your health is." Hotaru nodded and left quietly.

"She's… creepy," Goten said.

The evening passed. Hotaru hadn't even showed up after going to her room. Both Goten and Trunks were already yawning and trying hard to keep their eyes open. When Michiru said that the kids seemed tired and should go to sleep, they agreed without any complains. But in the middle of the night they both woke up in the same time, sat up and looked at each other with surprise.

"Why did you wake up?" Trunks asked whispering.

Goten shrugged. "No idea. You?"

"I think I heard a sound… no, I felt something weird, like a sound," his buddy replied thoughtfully. "Let's go check it out!"

Goten was uncertain. "There's something strange about this house and those girls living here. Shouldn't we rather sleep and forget everything we heard? Besides, our dads haven't felt anything." He pointed to the Saiyans who were both in deep sleep.

Trunks stood up and sneaked to the door. "Do whatever you want."

"Hey, wait up!" Goten hurried next to him. "I sure hope we won't run into something we shouldn't run into…"

They lurked to the other end of the corridor and stopped behind Hotaru's room's door.

"I think it's here," Trunks said quietly.

"I think we shouldn't peek in," Goten replied even more quietly.

Trunks hissed at him and pushed the door. It slid open, very softly, like in a dream. They peeked in.

This time there weren't any dark shadows crawling around the walls, since the mistress of the shadows was at home. The moonlight shone in from between the curtains and filled the room with soft silvery light. Hotaru was sitting in her bed, holding her head between her hands. She moaned quietly.

Trunks and Goten rushed to her. "Hotaru? Are you alright?"

The girl slowly opened her huge eyes. She blinked. "I… think so."

"What happened?" Goten asked.

"I had a vision… or something like that. It felt more like someone breaking into my head and giving me some sort of a message." Hotaru blinked again with confusion.

"What was the message?" Michiru was standing in the doorway. She seemed sleepy but her eyes were sharp.

Hotaru frowned. "Something like "Beware. I'm coming.""


	6. Popstars as babysitters

**Chapter 6 – Popstars as babysitters**

"I don't think it's anything to worry about," Goku said in the next morning after hearing about the incident. "No, I'm not saying that it was a bad dream but believe me, I've seen things in my life and creatures breaking into peoples' heads are pretty common in some parts of the Universe. And they're not that dangerous. The more fear a creature is trying to cause, the less dangerous it actually is. The most dangerous things attack suddenly."

Vegeta entered the room. "True. I remember that once one of such demons broke into his head and got lost there. My wife hired an exorcist to get it out again and when it finally flew out from his ear it thanked us for saving it from, quote the demon, "that creepy and empty place"."

Goku snarled. "Really funny." Haruka and Michiru tried hard to hold back a wide smirk.

"Done with the training?" Michiru asked Vegeta. The prince nodded. "For now."

Haruka turned to Hotaru. "Did you hear anything else? The place, the time, anything?"

The girl shook her head. "Just that someone's coming."

"I wonder why they chose Hotaru." Michiru asked thoughtfully.

Haruka laughed. "Maybe they tried to break into your head first but didn't make it through your thick skull?"

The girl frowned at her. "Yeah, after trying _your_ thick skull. No, seriously, Hotaru is the Sailor Soldier of death and that's what makes me concerned. There's always a chance that they chose her just because she was close to their dimension… that means… the death and the other side."

Goku blinked with surprise. "You mean… it could've been some of King Enma's ogres?"

The others stared at him.

"Hard to imagine any of those yuppie wimps break into someone's head," Vegeta remarked. "They'd need an application in triplicate and a signature of the Supreme Kai before thinking of anything like that."

Goku nodded. "Good point."

Michiru decided not to ask anything and looked at her watch. "Whoa, it's getting late… I need to run! Don't blow anything up while I'm not around."

Hotaru stood up. "I'll go too. I promised my dad that we would go on a picnic today."

Goku looked at Vegeta. "Hey, weren't we supposed to go training in some place Siberia or whatever it was called?"

Vegeta nodded. "Sounds like a good idea. Behave yourselves, you brats." The two Saiyans, as well as Michiru and Hotaru, left the room.

Haruka gasped and stared at the empty doorway. "Hey, waitaminute… what am I supposed to be now, the babysitter?"

"Looks like it." Trunks pulled her sleeve. "Say, care to take us to the amusement park?"

The girl glared at him. "Listen kiddo, I have to be in the car repair shop in half an hour, the pharmacy, the mall and ten other places. Do I really look like I can play your mommy for the rest of the day??"

Trunks looked at her old jeans, her loose white shirt and her boy cut hair. "To be honest, no… but you'd do just fine playing my dad." He grinned widely.

Haruka pulled her hand through her hair and sighed. "As soon as you start causing any trouble, and I mean _any trouble_ at all, I'll dump you into the first orphanage I see. Got it? Let's go, I'm already in a hurry."

Five minutes later Haruka's yellow convertible was crossing the speed limit somewhere in the uptown of Tokyo. Trunks and Goten looked around with great interest and Haruka explained them a few things.

"Right now we're in Shinjuku, the so-called nerve centre of Tokyo. Trunks, you'll lose your head behind the first lamp post when you stick it out of the car like that. Goten, would you _pretty please_ get your feet off the seat?" (The _pretty please_ was said coldly enough to form a small iceberg.)

Finally the car stopped in front of a car repair shop. Haruka spent a few minutes talking to the mechanic who looked under the bonnet and told the girl to come back at four o'clock.

"It looks like we'll have to walk for the rest of the day," Haruka remarked to the kids as they left the garage. "That means I can't go to the mall until 4 pm. Those modern sports cars are quite a pain in the... yeah, no cursing in front of children. You get the point."

"Can't Michiru go to the mall?" Goten asked.

Haruka smiled. "That airhead? Usually she really does the shopping but right now she's in the middle of creating a new work of art, some huge painting or what was it again… and when she's not in her room doing that painting, she just floats around and forgets things. Artists…"

"So… can we go to the amusement park?" Trunks asked excitedly.

"Some other day, some other time and not with me. Besides, I need to go to the furniture shop. Let's take this shortcut through the park."

The park was surprisingly crowded. Dozens of people were walking down the footpaths talking to each other excitedly. Haruka kept her ears open to hear what the big deal was. Soon she grunted quietly and gave a grim frown.

"What is it?" Goten and Trunks asked at the same time.

"What do you think? That oh-so-famous Three Lights is having a photo-shooting or something like that here in this park." Haruka looked at the enthusiastic people and growled.

Trunks frowned, trying to remember something. "The very same Three Lights? Those three guys in Makoto's class?"

Haruka nodded.

"Cool!" Goten and Trunks pulled her forward. "Let's go see!"

"**You** go see if you want… I have more important things to do," the girl snapped.

"But… but… we can't go alone! You need to keep an eye on us, otherwise we'll get lost!" Trunks pouted. "And I wanna see them!"

"Didn't you see them at school yesterday?" Goten asked.

"Yeah, but… still!"

Haruka turned around and took a smaller path between the bushes which had no people walking on it. "Like I said, do what you want… I have more important things to do."

They crossed the footpath and suddenly came onto a small square with several trucks and trailers standing on it. Haruka's eyes narrowed as she looked around. And on the same second:

"Well, would you look at that… never would've guessed I'd ever see you babysitting!"

Haruka took a deep breath, turned her head and looked straight into Seiya's dark blue eyes. "My day just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?"

Seiya was sitting on the lowered back shutter of a huge truck with an electric guitar in his lap. His life as a famous pop star had never been easy but at the moment he really seemed happy with his life.

Trunks hopped forward. "Hey, great to see you again! Remember us?"

Seiya looked at him with a slight smile. "Sure I do. If I may ask, is she babysitting you or are you babysitting her?"

"Would you cut it out, Seiya?" Taiki asked, stepping out of the truck, with Yaten following him in a few seconds. "Sometimes you really act like a five-year-old."

"I'd say that she's the one acting childishly for most of the time," Seiya retorted.

Haruka looked like she was about to explode. Suddenly she blinked and her navy blue eyes turned big. Then she grinned, went straight to the truck and looked at Seiya.

"Say… as I understand, you're awfully bored at the moment, sitting here and playing that guitar of yours, having nothing better to do…?"

Seiya blinked and stared at her with great surprise. "Well, I just finished with my shooting, if that's what you meant…"

Haruka gave him a wide smile. "Good. Okay kids, here's the deal. You'll stay here with these three until I get back from the city and pick you up again. Feel fee to cause any trouble you want. Agreed? Byebye." She turned around and galloped away, leaving Seiya and the two kids stare at her back.

Seiya gasped and blinked. "Hey… but… now hold on a minute…!"

Taiki laughed and patted his back. "Well, it looks like you're the babysitter now. Don't let them play with matches or anything, Yaten and I have a photo-shooting to survive." The two left as well.

Seiya grunted and slammed his guitar against the truck's back shutter. "Well, this is just **great**. Do I look like some… some nanny?"

Trunks examined his guitar. "No, but you could become a great rock star… is there anything edible in this truck?"

"Nothing but my lunch and I don't think that's enough for the three of us," Seiya replied grumpily.

Trunks jumped into the truck and came out again with a plastic bag full of hamburger boxes. "You call that lunch? My mom says she wouldn't feed that even to her dogs. Well, they'll have to do."

Seiya stared at him. "Hey, you can't eat my lunch!"

Goten jumped on the back shutter and peeked into the bag. "Why? It's a whole full bag… you're not gonna eat a whole bag of hamburgers, eh?" He grabbed one of the boxes. "Ooh, wieners!"

Five minutes later the bag was empty. Seiya was munching on the very last hamburger he had succeeded to save from the Saiyan brats and asked the kids if they would be so nice and kill Haruka the next time they'd see her.

"And then who'd make us those great pancakes?" Goten asked back. He finished his burger and peeked into the truck. "Ooh – drums!"

One very noisy and soulful drum solo later Seiya remarked that Goten could make a nice career in some garage band at the age of 17 or so.

"And then he'd get an overdose a few months after his first breakthrough and there ya have it," Trunks chortled. "Say, Seiya, how did you make it to show business anyway?"

Seiya snarled. "I just gave my 300th interview to some yellow newspaper I've never even heard of about the same darn thing… okay, if you really want to know, there's nothing very unusual about the story. We just decided to make a band and for some reason the people loved our music. Why? Ask them…"

"I'll go and ask someone!" Goten jumped off the truck and ran down the footpath.

Trunks gave a short look at Seiya's surprised face. "Don't mind him… his whole family is like that."

A few minutes later Goten returned with a confused look on his face. "I asked a few girls but the only thing they said to me was something like "because like, ohmygod, they're like, ohmygod, like so, y'know, like so totally _cool_!" What does "like ohmygod" mean anyway?"

Trunks shrugged. Seiya shook his head. "Go figure…"

Taiki and Yaten came back to the truck. "Well? Still no burning wrecks in sight?"

"Any second now," Seiya replied with a grin.

Yaten looked at the two kids. "We're going to the Royal Park now. I guess you'll have to come with us. But this time all the three of us will have to be on stage at the same time and that means you'll have to manage on your own. No funny stuff, no breaking instruments, nothing that would make me angry, got the basics?"

"What happens when he becomes angry?" Trunks quietly asked Seiya.

"Depends…" Seiya whispered back. "He might just growl at you or he might slam a guitar or another random object into your face. Completely up to him."

"Boring!" Goten announced to Trunks about half an hour later when they were sitting in the truck somewhere in the middle of the Royal Park.

Trunks nodded and looked around inside the truck which was quite a mess. Musical instruments, cardboard boxes and dusty pieces of cloth all on top of each other.

"Let's see… oh look, here's an old guitar!" he announced happily after lurking around between the boxes for a while.

"Are you sure it's o-o-ooo-achoo!" Goten sneezed. Then he sniffed. "Well, it sure is _dusty_…"

"And therefore old. Here, hold this." Trunks ran back into the truck. Minutes later he dragged out an old drum. "You and me against the world, baby!"

Goten stared at him. "The what?"

"No idea, people just say that… do you want the drum or the guitar?"

"That wasn't too bad," Seiya remarked to the others as they came back to the truck.

Yaten nodded and yawned. "I could use some coffee. We've been up ever since… what was it, 5 AM? I could really need some sleep… what's that terrible noise?"

The Three Lights stopped with surprise as they saw the truck.

"Check it out…" Taiki said, raising his eyebrows. "A concert in our truck and we didn't even get free tickets."

Trunks had found a baseball cap somewhere and was now wearing it backwards, slamming the guitar and yelling something probably even he didn't understand. Goten was kicking and punching the old drum. Suddenly they noticed the three guys and stopped this instance, looking a bit sheepish.

"That wasn't bad at all," Seiya remarked with a grin. "Maybe people really like that noise… whadda you think, maybe we should become a hard rock group instead?"

Taiki grunted. Yaten stared at Seiya. "Without me, in such case." He went to the truck, sat down and stretched himself. "Man, this job is hard… hey Trunks, let me see that guitar. I think it's a bit out of tune."

Taiki blinked. "I just remembered something. At what time did Haruka say that she'd come and pick those two up again?"

Seiya and Yaten frowned. "I don't think she mentioned the time," Yaten said, tuning the guitar. "Why?"

"_Some people_, and I'm not gonna mention the names, are having a concert tonight," Taiki replied. "Where will we leave those kids during the concert – backstage? I don't think the place has a daily care centre."

"Hey, we're not kids any more!" Trunks announced angrily.

"And you're what – senior citizens?" Taiki looked at the two. "If you promise to behave then you'll get to see the concert, for free. If you mess something up, blow something up or get on anyone's nerves then things **will** get ugly."

Goten snarled. "Why does everyone say that to us all the time? We'll behave. Honestly."

* * *

"Who are those brats?" a sound mechanic asked with surprise when he climbed into the truck and saw the kids.

The three guys didn't seem exactly talkative about the situation. "Less questions, more chance to keep your job," Seiya said. "They'll come with us to the concert."

The mechanic nodded in agreement. "Let's get going then; we're already almost late."

About fifteen minutes later the truck stopped in front of the concert hall's back door.

"Wow, this place is cool!" Trunks admired, looking at all the technical gadgets, the people in hurry and all the narrow corridors with lots of doors.

"During the concert it's usually like a madhouse," Yaten replied, "so I suggest you not to get in anyone's way. Let's go to dressing room before we run into any important wires."

"Never would've guessed that coming to another plan… erm, to a concert hall would be so much fun!" Goten admired as Taiki unlocked the door to the dressing room.

"Glad you liked it, but the field trip is now over." Haruka was sitting on the windowsill of the dressing room. "Nice security guards you have here, you guys… maybe they could use less coffee breaks."

Goten and Trunks pouted. "But we wanna see the concert!"

"Yeah, and we could see it for free!"

"It lasts until 11 PM, maybe more," Yaten said. "Do you think you're able to stay up for that long?"

"Haruka will drive us home when we fall asleep during the concert, right, Haruka?" Trunks looked at the girl.

Haruka grunted. "I don't like pop music… and Michiru has probably made the dinner already. Give me one good reason why I should sit here with you listening to that concert until midnight?"

Both kids took a deep breath and whined: "Pleeeease! We'll sleep longer tomorrow morning and won't bother you until the afternoon. We really want to see the concert. _Pleeeeeease_?"

Haruka looked at the Three Lights. "For free, they said?"

* * *

It was about ten o'clock in the evening and the concert was almost over. Trunks, Goten and Haruka were sitting on a platform right below the ceiling, high above all the screaming fans and annoyed security guards.

"The best seats in the whole concert hall," Trunks remarked happily.

"Yeah, and the acoustic is great too," Goten added.

Haruka grunted. "I don't know about you two, but I'm hungry."

"Me too," Trunks agreed, "but I like that concert."

The fast song the Three Lights had been singing ended and the three guys started another song, a slow ballade which calmed the screaming audience down.

"Ooh, a pretty song," Goten admired.

Haruka nodded slowly and gave a slight smile. "Yeah… not bad. Still better than this usual pop-music gibberish they sing." She sat back and looked at the stage. "They should turn into a rock group… they sure have voices for that."

As the time passed by, the songs the Three Lights sang turned slower and slower. In the beginning of the concert they had played faster pop songs, now they were singing ballades. Goten and Trunks became sleepy. Haruka gave them a slight frown.

"Maybe we should go home?" she asked. The two boys shook their heads.

Finally, at about eleven o'clock, the three guys finished their last song and the concert was over. While the excited crowd rushed closer to the stage to get autographs, Haruka poked the two boys and got them up on their feet again.

"Enough cultural life for today, let's go," she said.


	7. And the race begins!

**Chapter 7 – And the race begins!**

The next morning Hotaru seemed rather quiet and concerned at the breakfast table. The others were silent for a while, but then Michiru asked the girl what the problem was.

"I had another vision," Hotaru replied. "This time only one word. "Tomorrow.""

"Maybe you'll hear something more tonight," Goku said. "Like the place or the exact time. Or who this is who's supposed to come."

"Maybe," Hotaru agreed quietly, "but I don't like those visions. They're painful…"

Haruka patted her head and stood up. "I feel sorry for you but thanks to you, we may be able to prevent something very bad from happening."

"But why does it warn before coming?" Trunks asked.

Haruka shrugged. "To get attention? To give us wrong directions so that we wouldn't be in its way? Who knows? I'll be going now; I have to be on the track in two hours."

"What track?" Trunks and Goten asked with surprise.

"She has a motocross race today," Michiru explained as Haruka left the kitchen.

Both kids blinked. "Really? Cool! Can we go and watch the race? Please?"

Michiru smiled slightly. "Actually this isn't a bad idea. It's been a while since I last saw one of her races. We could all go, what do you guys think?"

Haruka stuck her head into the kitchen again. "Would you look at that, I guess I'll have to thank you Saiyans. It's been ages since Michiru last came to see one of my races; she says that I'd win one way or another."

"And you always do," Michiru grinned.

"That's not the point," the other girl snarled. "I'll go now, you know the train departure times and all." The door slammed shut as she left the house.

Two hours later Michiru, Hotaru and the four Saiyans were standing by the race track. The race was about to start and people were chatting excitedly.

"I bet Masanuro wins that race today," one man stated. "He's in a very good shape today and I've heard that he's testing some new sort of fuel which is supposed to be a hit."

"Yeah, but he has been losing his touch lately," another man claimed thoughtfully. "I think he's already getting too old for that kind of sports. Besides, that new guy Yusuke, he has had a few very good races as I remember. Where did he come from, Yokohama…? Anyway, I heard that he was the best one in his hometown."

A third man laughed loudly. "What are you, living in a fantasy world? That Tenou-girl has won each and every race this year and probably keeps winning. She's the kind of type that breaks a leg during the race and still keeps going. A tough one, indeed. Why those other contestants even bother to race while she's around, I still haven't gotten that."

The first man gave him an unpleasant grin. "That insolent lassie won't win today."

Michiru's eyes narrowed and she turned her head a bit.

"What makes you say that?" the other men asked.

The guy grinned again. "Do you know what happens when you pour sugar into a motorbike's gas tank? It won't do good for the bike, that's one thing for sure."

Trunks gave a quiet grunt. "Why I oughtta…" Michiru held her back and clicked a button on her communication watch. "Excuse me a moment, will you…?" She left towards the hot dog booths where weren't many people. In a few moments she returned, with a smile on her face.

"Everything's fine…?" Goku asked.

Michiru nodded. "She can't be underestimated. I wouldn't want to be in the shoes of the guy who's responsible for the sabotage…"

"The race is about to start!" Goten shouted.

The loudspeakers rattled a little. "Attention ladies and gentlemen, welcome to today's motocross race. Please stay away from the track, it's very dangerous and may disturb the racers. The contestants are ready, as I see. Well then, let's begin the race!"

And the race started with a loud gunshot. Around ten dirt bikes rushed down the bumpy and muddy track, side by side. After a few hundred yards, one of the bikes was ahead of the others. It was a blue-and-yellow striped Kawasaki bike.

Michiru nodded with a smile. "Like I said."

Goten and Trunks were hopping up and down excitedly. "She's leading! She's leading!"

"What the hell?" they heard the man from before asking quietly. "How could she even start the bike?"

"She's not giving her best yet," Vegeta remarked as the contestants passed the tribunes. "It's obvious that she's holding the bike back. What for?"

Michiru shrugged. "Maybe she doesn't want to race alone, in front of everyone else… maybe she just likes to tease the others. I'd go for the second version."

"How long is the track?" Goku asked.

"Quite a long one." Michiru pointed to a huge screen next to the tribunes. "It goes through the forest. They have cameras attached to the trees so that we'd be able to see the race in progress. Look, there they come now."

The yellow and blue Kawasaki was still leading. Slightly, but keeping a clear distance. The rider was wearing a helmet but as she passed the camera the people on the tribunes could see her eyes behind the visor for just one second. These were the eyes of a winner. Confident and calm.

"This race is quite boring," Vegeta remarked as nearly half of the race was over. "It's obvious that she'll win."

Michiru grinned and nodded. "That's why I never go to any of her races even when I have the time for it. She always wins. Once she drove out of the road and hit a tree; people said that it was sabotage but they never proved anything; but she got back to the track, caught up with the others and won anyway."

"She's cool!" Trunks stated.

"She's just a very bad loser," Hotaru remarked. "That's why she prefers to be good at everything she does."

"_And_ she's cool," Trunks replied.

 Finally the audience could see the contestants ride out from the forest and aim towards the finish line. Haruka was still ahead but now the distance between her and all the other bikes was increasing. The finish line came closer… and closer… and suddenly the yellow and blue bike gave a loud roar and dashed forward. It left all the other bikes far behind and raced over the finish line at least fifty feet before everyone else.

Trunks and Goten went almost crazy because of the enthusiasm. "She won! **She won**!!!" they screamed loudly and hugged each other. "Wheeeee!"

"Wow, surprise," Vegeta remarked as Michiru nodded. "Good racing though."

"Let's go see her," Goku suggested and leaped over the fence.

Haruka was sitting on her bike next to the track with a very annoyed look on her face as the others finally got to her. The other racers had finished as well and were now taking off their helmets, checking their bikes and glaring at the winner.

"Well done, as usually," Michiru said, coming up to her. Haruka gave her a smile and pulled her hand through the hair.

"Not exactly intense," she replied. "People are losing hope. They're not even fighting any more. They see me leading and they're not even trying to pass me. They struggle for the runner-up position instead. Pathetic…"

"They don't have much chance against you anyway," Goten said with admiration.

"For me, motocross is not for winning but for racing itself," the girl grunted. "For fighting. These guys are not even trying; and they're supposed to be the elite of Japan's motocross racers."

"Listen here, you girl." Everyone turned their heads to see a tall, stout man in his mid-40s with a very unfriendly look on his face.

Haruka's face showed no expression at all. "Masanuro…?"

"I've had it with you!" the man stated, stepping up to her and glaring right into her face. "Who do you think you are anyway? You think you're such a big star in the motocross world, eh? Wrong! I'll tell you who you are! You're a little girl who's trying to belong somewhere she doesn't belong. You may have that fancy bike that can overtake all the rest of us but do you think that makes you better than everyone else?"

Haruka smirked slightly. "Oh, should I cry and run away now? I've heard speeches like that ever since I started as a motocross racer and that was quite a few years ago. Let me tell you one thing, Masanuro. It's not about having a fancy bike." Haruka's Kawasaki bike chose that same moment to lose a little screw which fell on the asphalt and gave a quiet clink. "Any idiot can buy an expensive bike and look pretty in the saddle. But the bike doesn't ride without a rider. If you want to win the race, you have to fight for it. You have to have the soul for it. You used to be the champion of Japan. What happened? Did the big bad me come and steal your precious little first place?"

"You make me **_sick_**," Masanuro hissed furiously. "Listen kid, if you don't come to your senses and start acting like a girl of your age should then some day, maybe some day, that precious little bike of yours just _might_ get into some nasty accident."

"Now **you** listen, buddy." Vegeta stepped forward and grabbed Masanuro's throat. The man's eyes turned big as he felt the prince's steel hard fingers slowly closing his breathing. "You're the one that's making others sick here. She won that damn race because she's better than you pathetic bunch of intriguers, got that? She's the one that's better than the rest of you. She fights for what she has accomplished. Oh right, you fight too. With what? Sugar in gas tanks? You're **pathetic**!" He threw Masanuro on the ground. "Get off my face."

"Now that we got that settled, can we go home?" Haruka asked with a grin. "I'm kinda hungry."

"Got the prize and all?" Michiru asked.

Haruka nodded and showed her a check. "100 000 yens. Not bad. Now we can pay that heating bill we've had for three months."

"Because you were too lazy to go and pay that bill," Michiru retorted. Haruka laughed and stood up. "Let's go."

"Excuse me, Miss Tenou." A woman with a microphone rushed closer, with a photographer right behind him. "Sora Mayami, Tokyo's Daily News. Would you be interested in giving us a small interview?"

"Make it fast," Haruka frowned.

"You've won 47 motocross races this year and haven't lost a single one. How do you explain that amazing success?" the woman asked, sticking the microphone under Haruka's nose.

"Just good racing skills," the girl replied laconically. "Racing isn't difficult when you put your soul into it. Just sitting in the saddle and giving gas isn't enough."

"How do you prepare for races?" the reporter asked.

"I don't. I just check my bike and go behind the starting line. I have no lucky charms, if that's what you mean…"

"And how do you find time for all of your hobbies? As most people know, you're also a very talented piano player."

"I have plenty of time. Let's go guys." Haruka took her bike and went towards the exit. The others followed her.


	8. Where everything starts all over

**Chapter 8 – Where everything starts all over**

In the afternoon dark clouds appeared in the sky and in a few hours it started to rain. Everyone sat inside reading magazines, watching TV or trying to find something to do.

"I wanna play something!" Goten complained, pulling his father's sleeve.

"Can't help you," Goku replied. "It's raining outside."

"Not very badly though," Haruka said, entering the room. She was soaking wet and her blonde hair was dripping. "Just a bit cloudy…"

Michiru stared at her. "You went outside with that shower?"

"No, I took a bath with my clothes on. Of course I went outside. _Someone_ did laundry yesterday and hung all the clothes out to dry. Dry, yeah. Here, take this." Haruka threw a big soaked ball of clothes on the floor. "Airhead…"

"Reminds me of a story where Mom was busy with her new invention and left all the laundry outside right after the hurricane warning," Trunks chortled.

"And it flew away?" Haruka asked over her shoulder.

Trunks nodded. "They found it eventually… near the Papaya Islands."

The next morning was bright and very warm; there wasn't a single cloud in the sky and the birds were singing as loudly as they could. The air felt cleaner than usually, since the rain had absorbed a lot of exhaust fumes and chemicals in the air. People were breathing deeply and enjoying the pretty morning. The breakfast in Haruka's house's kitchen wasn't that sunny though.

"Hotaru?" Michiru asked, filling another plate with oat flake porridge and giving it to Vegeta. The Saiyan prince muttered something about baby food but then grabbed a spoon. He had trained for an hour before the breakfast and was as hungry as a wolf.

Hotaru nodded. "It said "tonight, where everything starts all over.""

Haruka raised her eyebrows. "Where everything starts all over? What does it mean with everything? Things can't start again, they can only continue. That's life."

"Maybe for your point of view," Vegeta said slowly, "but demons know far more about things in life."

"Maybe we're looking at this from the wrong angle?" Goku asked. "If I was a demon, I would first think of a place for showing up and then think of a riddle what would go for the place."

Michiru nodded. "Good point. Now, if you were a demon, where would you show up?"

* * *

When the sun was about to set, the sky was dark orange and the shadows were long, Haruka's yellow convertible stopped in front of huge old rusty gates.

"We're taking a very wild guess here," Haruka said, getting out of the car. "There are dozens of cemeteries in Tokyo."

"But this one's the oldest that still exists, as you said," Vegeta replied. "Besides, once this demon had so much trouble with informing us, I think it would even show up when we would go to the kindergarten."

"Kindergartens are _spoooky_ at night," Trunks remarked.

"It's a Christian cemetery," Michiru said. "Ancient Japanese burned their dead people so they made no cemeteries. This one here was built after the merchants came from the West, a little after founding Tokyo. Shall we go inside?"

"It's not dark yet, there's nothing to be afraid of," Haruka told the two kids who were examining the old gates with slight disbelief.

Hotaru was the first one to go inside. She looked at the weedy graves and oblique tombstones. Then she raised her head and looked at the old church in the other end of the cemetery. "Over there, I think."

"Let's go inside then." Vegeta went down the old footpath and the others followed him after hesitating a bit. The tombstones and ancient mossy crosses reached to the sky which turned darker and darker as the sun set.

The Saiyan prince pushed the door of the church open. It gave a loud screech and rattled a bit. Everyone stepped inside and admired the old benches, the altar and the pictures on the walls. The ceiling was very high above and looked like some huge animal's skeleton.

"Gothica," Michiru said.

"It's pretty," Trunks esteemed.

"Do you really think a demon would show up in a church?" Goku asked Hotaru.

"Most demons are atheists," Hotaru replied. "Religion was created by humans. Church is only a big house with dead aura for them."

"I hope it shows up, and fast," Vegeta remarked. "I'm not interested in sitting in some old church and waiting for a demon to show up. I've seen enough hideous creatures in my life… and afterlife… and it's probably nothing that serious anyway."

"Let's wait until midnight," Hotaru suggested.

"What are we gonna do here for…" Trunks checked his watch. "Four hours??!"

"Play tag?" Goten proposed.

About half an hour later the two kids were finishing their fifth tag game over the benches, the altar and all the sarcophagi that were placed by the walls of the church. Vegeta was sitting on one of the benches and watching the two with his left eyebrow twitching.

"Future Saiyan warriors…" He looked at his watch. "Who came up with this stupid all-demons-show-up-at-midnight idea?"

"That's when the old day dies and a new day is born," Michiru replied. "An eternal circle which begins and ends in the same spot but never actually ends at all."

Haruka closed her magazine. "Hotaru…? Now where's that girl again?"

"I'm right here." Hotaru was sitting a little away from the candlelight, in a shadowy corner, on top of a sarcophagus. "What is it?"

The Saiyans gave her a wow-she's-a-creepy-one look. Haruka frowned a bit. "It's a bad idea to sit on top of a sarcophagus made of stone, especially with your bad health. How did that last vision of yours sound again?"

Hotaru frowned. "Tonight, where everything starts all over. Or something like that."

"I don't get your logic," Vegeta frowned. "What things start all over in an old church? A maternity clinic would make more sense…"

"Yeah, but a church sounds more reasonable," Michiru said. "Besides, according to all sorts of religious beliefs people are reborn after they die. And since people are often buried in churches, their new lives therefore start from there too."

"Actually it takes a year before a dead soul is sent to another body," Goku remarked. "And it's a lot of paperwork too."

"Ever been dead?" Haruka asked him with a small frown.

"A few times," Goku agreed.

Vegeta grunted. "If something won't happen soon, I'll go home. I think I remember a slice of pizza in the fridge…"

Haruka glared at him. "**_My_** breakfast for tomorrow!"

Vegeta glared back. "Does it have your name on it?"

Michiru sighed and muttered something about maturity and healthy food. Goku muttered something about thinking that the slice had seemed so lonely in the fridge. Haruka's and Vegeta's eyes narrowed as they both turned their heads on the same time to look at Goku.

It took ages before Vegeta finally checked his watch for the twelve hundredth time and said: "Almost midnight."

Goku yawned loudly. "Good…"

Suddenly a low deep sound filled the church. It was an ancient church bell which was tolling up in the tower. 3… 5… 8… 12 tolls.

"Finally…" Vegeta grunted.

"And… who's ringing the bell?" Michiru asked slowly.

The Saiyans turned their heads as they sensed a rapid wave of energy. A black whirl of mist appeared above the altar and thickened. A human-like creature formed out of the mist and stretched itself. Then it opened its huge black wings that looked like they had been a huge hurricane – tattered, torn and tangled. The creature was skinny and clothed in some black cloth.

"Greetings, mortals," it said with an unpleasant grin. The creature's teeth were white, long and sharp. Its eyes were sharp as well, narrow and cold.

"Who are you?" Vegeta asked as his eyes narrowed too.

"Who I am? I'm the demon of the night, the crawler inside the darkness, the lurker in your nightmares. My name is not necessary for you to know." The creature stretched its wings again and slid down from the altar. "You must be eager to know why I am here."

Six pairs of rather sleepy eyes looked at it. "Well… yeah, kinda." There was another pair of eyes deeper in the shadows – Hotaru's eyes, awake and curious.

"Thousands of years I've lurked in the shadows," the being said and looked around the church. "Thousands of years alone, locked inside my own reality. I didn't like that life. It was so far away from all you humans, so isolated from all those sweet tasty dreams you dream. I needed food. But I had no way to come to your world, for the only chance for me to travel is through human mind. And then, at one moment, I discovered her."

Everyone looked at the sarcophagus in the shadows. Hotaru stood up and stepped out into the candlelight. "You found me," she said. "How?"

"Your mind is so close to our world," the creature replied. "That's how I found you, floating near the edges of my reality. So I used you to build myself a way into your pathetic little human world."

Hotaru nodded. "Nice. And once you're here, what are you planning to do?" The Saiyans gave her a curious look and moved away a bit. The girl was really spooky at the moment. She was slim, pale and seemed like a regular young girl with bad health but she talked and acted like an adult. And her purple melancholy eyes hid something deep inside her soul.

"I've finally come though the gateway that separates my world from yours," it replied. "And once I'm here, I can get as much food as I want. I can eat all the dreams of the humans and turn your world into the same lifeless place as the world I came from. That's the purpose of my meaning." It cackled quietly.

"Always the same old story," Haruka remarked with boredom. "Do you world-conquering, dominating, over-taking, whatever-doing evil creatures ever think of the possibility of someone being there to stand up against you?"

Vegeta raised his eyebrows and looked at her. "Where have you lived? Thinking of possible losing always brings down the fighting moral."

"And who do you think would be powerful enough to stand up against me?" the creature asked with a smirk. "Don't think I don't know you Saiyans." The four Saiyans seemed shocked. "We dark creatures know more than you can possibly imagine. Don't come with this Sailor Scouts story either," it looked at Haruka and Michiru, "your powers are too materialistic for someone like me. Well, it's been nice but I have a world to take over. Goodbye, see you in your nightmares!" The being cackled again and spread out its wings. A cold breeze filled the church as the demon of the night flew out of the door, with its black coat fluttering behind.

Everyone was quiet for a second.

"This will be a long night," Haruka then announced. "Let's go!"


	9. The power of a thousand supernovas

**Chapter 9 – The power of a thousand supernovas**

"Where do you think it will go?" Michiru asked Haruka as the yellow Porsche raced through the streets of Tokyo's downtown. There weren't many people outside, just some late-night bar visitors and a few prostitutes.

Haruka's eyes were straight on the road. Her mouth was shut tightly and she frowned. "No idea," she said then, "but this thing left behind a few tracks."

A small black tangled feather floated by. Michiru nodded and the car speeded on.

"It's all my fault," Hotaru mumbled quietly. "If my mind hadn't been so opened to its world…"

"Being the Sailor Scout of Death has a price, don't forget that and don't blame yourself for that," Haruka growled. "It's here now and we can't turn the time back, so all we can do now is to go and stop it."

"Why did it warn us?" Goten asked. He wasn't sleepy any more; now he felt like he could be awake for days.

"To build its way out. It would've been better for it to come quietly but it couldn't do that. We're not a big threat for it anyway – or so it thinks." Haruka's eyes narrowed as she spotted another feather. "I think it's heading for Shinjuku."

The car stopped in front of Tokyo's nerve centre, Shinjuku's tall office buildings and skyscrapers. Haruka had been right, long cords of black mist were reaching out from top of one of the skyscrapers. They reached all over the sleeping city, infiltrating into the houses.

"It really is… eating people's dreams," Michiru whispered.

"Not for long!" Goku boosted into the air. "Let's go up there, guys!"

Haruka grabbed his boot. "Excuse me, but some of us are humans here."

"You'll stay down here and let us handle the problem," Vegeta announced, floating up too.

The three girls grunted. "Guess again."

"Women…" Vegeta muttered as they flew up to the top of the building and put the girls down.

The creature was standing in the middle of the roof, sending out the cords of mist. "Oh, the sweet dreams of those pathetic little humans… how tasty, how innocent!" it cackled.

"I don't see your name on them," Trunks shouted.

The being seemed surprised. "How… did you find me?"

"They always ask that," Haruka remarked, pulling out her transformation wand. "Another one of life's great mysteries… Uranus Crystal Power, make-up!"

"Uranus Crystal Power?" Goten asked. "What the heck does that mean?"

Sailor Uranus completed her transformation and shrugged. "Don't ask me, I didn't come up with it…"

"I thought I told you that your materialistic powers don't do anything to me," the demon grinned.

"But it's still worth trying," Vegeta remarked. "Big Bang Attack!"

The huge energy orb flew right through the demon, hit the park near the skyscrapers and left a huge crater behind.

"Bing Bang Attack?" Sailor Saturn asked Trunks who shrugged. The demon cackled again.

"Worthless bags of flesh and bones… I must credit you for trying though."

"Michiru?" Uranus asked over her shoulder. Neptune nodded.

"Space Sword Blaster!"

"Submarine Reflection!"

Both attacks flew right through the demon as well.

"That doesn't make much point," Trunks said. "You're attacking a big bunch of black smoke."

Vegeta snarled quietly. "Can you do better?"

"Trunks is right; we need a different angle." Uranus gave a quiet sigh and frowned at the demon that had stopped gathering the dreams and was now looking at the fighters with an amused look on its face. "And what are **you** looking at??"

"A bunch of black smoke… how do you fight smoke?" Goku asked. "Nothing materialistic can do anything against it."

Sailor Saturn who had been quiet during the fight suddenly raised her Silence Glaive. "Death Reborn…"

"NO!" Uranus dashed forward and slammed her Space Sword into the Silence Glaive which fell on the ground. "Have you lost it? You'll destroy the whole planet with that attack!"

"This thing will destroy the whole Universe when we won't stop it." Saturn's eyes were cold and angry. "Is that what you want, Uranus? Our lives compared to the whole existence of life on all planets – this isn't a big price to pay."

"You really should consult other six billion people on Earth before deciding that." Uranus's eyes were angry too. "And who says that the Death Reborn Revolution will kill it? It's made of darkness and dreams. Darkness must be destroyed, dreams must be saved. Can your Silence Glaive do both? I don't think so. We need to save the dreams of the mankind first, do you get that?"

"How?" Neptune asked suddenly. "How can we save the dreams…? If not… yeah, this might be a way." She grabbed her Aqua Mirror and slid her hand over its surface. Then she reached her hand out. The mirror started to glow, and then faded again.

A small ray of light struck through the night sky and shone right on the roof. A bright white creature appeared into the ray and as the ray faded, it pushed its head up, stretched its wings and gave a quiet snort.

"Hello, Pegasus," Neptune said with a smirk. "Say, you **do** know that you're having a small problem in the world of dreams, eh?"

Pegasus glared at her. "Do I? Have you **any** idea how busy I've been? The whole Elysion is about to collapse because that thing over there," he snorted at the demon, "is draining the dreams away. And don't ask me to fight it, my weapons, the dreams, are its food. You might as well start a war with candy cane cannons." He snarled and shook his mane. "No, you have to defeat it by yourselves."

Uranus stepped closer. "And how, if I may ask?"

Pegasus shrugged and almost fell on his nose (you try shrugging while standing on four legs). "You need to believe in yourselves, in your dreams and in the whole mankind. Unite your powers. You just have to feel the strength that comes from inside. That creature is alone, you have each other. Think of that. You're able to defeat it together." He disappeared in a whirl of glittering dust.

"Well, that was informative," Goten remarked.

"Actually… guys, I have an idea." Saturn raised her Silence Glaive again. "Don't worry, Uranus, this time it's not the Death Reborn Revolution." She waved her long glaive around her. "Silent Wall….!"

"Wasn't that for protection?" Uranus asked as a semi-transparent energy wall appeared in front of Saturn.

"A metal shield is for protection as long as you wield it to avoid strikes," Sailor Saturn replied. "When you slam the shield into someone's face, it's not for protection. All right, now all of you, attack that wall with all the power you've got. And fast!"

Uranus and Neptune looked at each other with surprise, but then they nodded quietly and raised their hands. "World Shaking!" "Deep Submerge!"

Both plasma balls disappeared into the wall.

Neptune gasped. "What the…?"

"Your turn, you Saiyans!" Saturn shouted.

Vegeta grinned. "If you insist… Final Flash!"

The whole Tokyo shone bright as the humongous wave of energy was struck out… but then it disappeared into the wall as well.

"That was strong," Saturn nodded with satisfaction. "Make it fast now!"

The demon was gathering all the dreams again and paid no attention to the others.

Goku concentrated for a moment. Trunks and Goten used the time to fuse into Gotenks.

"Kame… hame… HA!" Goku's energy wave also faded into the wall. Gotenks sent his little ghost kamikazes right after it.

"Happy now?" Vegeta asked, sitting on the ground and breathing hardly. He had given everything he had and had now merely enough energy left to keep his body still functioning. The others were practically drained too.

"Perfect," Saturn nodded. "That should work. Silent Wall!!!"

The semi-transparent energy wall dashed over the roof and threw itself over the demon that hadn't even seen it coming. The wall formed into a hemisphere and turned bright.

"Right now there's a huge explosion inside that wall," Saturn explained quietly. "Your powers can be compared with the power of a thousand supernovas. Actually very impressive. You Saiyans truly are a mighty race, I must say…"

"Those supernovas are quiet," Trunks remarked. There really wasn't a sound to hear.

"The Silent Wall and the two plasma balls are the protective shield between our world and the inside of the sphere. If there wasn't for those, this galaxy would probably blow up. Theoretically your energies should create a vacuum between the dimensions and send the creature to the Dead Zone." Sailor Saturn said.

"Dead Zone?" Goku asked and sat up. "Then it won't be lonely any more – it can play checkers with Garlick Junior or something."

Saturn gave him a surprised look. "Erm… if you say so…"

Suddenly the sphere disappeared. A huge complex of black mist flew out on the whole Tokyo and on the same moment the eastern side of the sky turned red.

"The dreams are back where they're supposed to be," Neptune smiled, turning back into Michiru.

"And the sun is rising." Uranus aka Haruka yawned. "I want coffee. Anyone with me?"

* * *

"Hey Vegeta! Guess what just happened!" Goku ran into the garden and stopped. "Hey… where are you?"

"Up here." Vegeta was sitting on the roof. "What's all that big excitement about?"

"I just got a connection with King Kai!" Goku announced, floating up to the roof too. "It turned out that there had been a magnetic storm near the edge of the galaxy. We're actually not very far away from home. I can even feel Gohan's aura right now!"

"Did I get that right?" Haruka stepped out of the house and looked at the roof. "You have a chance to go home now?"

Goku nodded. "Yeah."

Goten and Trunks, who had been training in front of the house, stopped and looked up too. "But we don't wanna go!"

Goku blinked with surprise. "You don't?"

"At least not yet," Goten added. "All this "Goten, put your sweater on, you'll catch the cold" and "Goten, eat your vegetables now, or you won't get any dessert". Don't I deserve a better childhood?"

Haruka grinned. "Too much TV indeed."

"Michiru promised to make egg rolls for dinner," Trunks added.

"I thought that Haruka didn't want us around?" Goku looked at the girl.

Haruka smirked slightly. "Let's see… while you're already sitting up there, the roof needs fixing. Once you're here, you might as well be useful, eh?"

Vegeta smirked too and squinted, looking at the sun. The day was sunny and cloudless.

"Get me a few nails up here, will you?"

"Mom has been bugging you for weeks to fix our house's roof," Trunks reminded him with a grin.

"Mom can wait for another week… or two," Vegeta replied.

**The End**

_Author's Note (and update): Want more? I recently started writing a new fanfic that continues this one here. It's called "A Vacation With Demons"... if you want to know what happens to the Saiyans next, you might as well go and read it. Hint #1: the demon isn't defeated yet. Hint #2: the Outer Scouts land on the Dragonball Earth. Hint #3: there will be a LOT bigger problems than some lousy little demon. Wanna know more? Go ahead and read..._


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